Morning all,
bad news to start the day I’m afraid. This round of utterly pointless international friendlies has claimed its first Arsenal victim and the consequences could be quite serious. Theo Walcott dislocated his shoulder and could now miss as much as three months while he recuperates.
He fell under a challenge from West Ham’s Scott Parker and was stretchered off to hospital. England coach Fabio Capello said:
Our priority is Theo and making him as comfortable as possible before he returns to England. We’re all very disappointed but the most important thing is for Theo to travel home and make a quick recovery.
Really though it makes little or no difference to England. The next World Cup qualifier isn’t until April 1st but for Arsenal it’s going to cause a massive problem. Theo has played in every league game this season and has established himself as the first choice at right midfield. Now we’re really stuck. I have no idea how long Eboue, the next obvious choice for Arsene Wenger, is out injured but with Bacary Sagna out Eboue could provide cover for that when fit (although Kolo Toure can do a job).
With Manchester City coming up on Saturday we now have no Cesc (suspension) and no Theo. Those are two of our most dangerous midfielders and life will be much more difficult without them.
I expect a bit of fallout in the wake of this injury. Arsene Wenger, never a fan of friendly internationals at the best of times, will be absolutely furious about this injury. And it opens up the whole debate about compensation for players injured while away on international duty. While the FA can, perhaps, justify ignorning claims of clubs when a player is hurt during a competitive game they simply cannot do the same for a friendly like this.
The FA should now be made to pay Theo’s wages for the duration of the injury. As is stands Arsenal are the ones who suffer on the pitch and in the wallet and that’s simply not right. As well as that there should be more debate about the need for a friendly international at this stage of the season. As I mentioned England’s next qualifier isn’t until April, what benefit is a friendly now? Why, when almost everyone in football agrees that players are overplayed, do they see fit to schedule a round of games in November?
In England December is a crazy month. There is no winter break. There’s a full Christmas schedule, yet instead of giving players a break FIFA and the national associations look on this as a little money-spinner. It’s wrong on every level and I would heartily endorse the club taking a stand on this issue. Of course Theo could have been injured on our time but then we would take responsibility for that. As it stands the FA simply send him back to us saying ‘Ooops, I think it’s broken. Bye!!!’.
The shoulder Theo dislocated is not the one he had surgery on previously but we may find this requires the same kind of operation. Once a shoulder is dislocated it becomes easier for it to be injured again. I suppose we’d better just wait and see what the prognosis from the club is but given the way things are going at the moment we might as well prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario. Anything else would be a bonus.
Everything else today is related to internationals and we had better all get praying that none of our other players come back injured. Aaron Ramsey is set to make his debut for Wales, which will probably result in him rupturing his spleen and dislocating his head. Robin van Persie will shatter every bone in his body under in innocuous challenge while playing for Holland and Gael Clichy will be killed stone dead when an Raymond Domenech tells him to go 88mph in a DeLorean car which never gets above 87 and smashes straight into a wall.
Pfff, stupid internationals. Get well soon, Theo.
